Ten minutes with Pat Hickey, Associate Director of Eli Lilly
"Donāt take yourself too seriously," advises Pat Hickey. "The most enjoyable and most successful projects I have been involved with were the ones where we had the most craic."
Cork man Pat Hickey has been working in the world of pharma for over twenty-five years, spanning an impressive career working for some of the industry's top companies. He joined Eli Lilly and Company, Kinsale; a world-leading innovative pharmaceutical company, as a Process Engineer in 2013. Here, he outlines what he loves most about his current role there as an Associate Director in Operations.
I was working as a Process Engineer in 2017 when my Team Leader asked if I would be interested in an operations leadership role during one of our regular 1:1 conversations. Back then, leadership wasnāt something that I had given much thought to as I was thoroughly enjoying my role as a Process Engineer. With encouragement from my Team Leader, I began to explore the opportunities available and ultimately, that led me to express an interest in a leadership role onsite. Several weeks later I applied for the leadership position and thatās how my management journey started.
I had worked as a contract partner on several Lilly projects pre-2013, and I was always hugely impressed with the team spirit and culture at the Kinsale site. Everyone looked out for each other and offered to lend a hand when required. I always appreciated the opportunity to work on the production frontline as there was a huge wealth of knowledge and experience within the operations team, which has been built up over 40 years. Iāve learned more about how to make medicine from hands-on experience and conversations with the experienced operations and maintenance staff than I had in any other role previously (or even during my time studying Chemical Engineering in college!)Ā
We have an extremely busy production schedule across the Lilly Kinsale campus. We manufacture several Lilly medicines that are already on the market for patients around the world, and we often make new medicines at the site that are not yet launched on the market. Our production facilities are generally comprised of flexible, high-tech equipment sets that are set up to run a āmanufacturing campaignā for one medicine for several weeks or months, before being cleaned and reconfigured to make a different medicine.
Balancing the manufacture of existing commercial medicines with the introduction of new medicines is an exciting challenge and means that every day is different.
In addition to manufacturing medicines within the agreed time schedule in a safe and compliant manner, we also aim to streamline and optimise the time we spend in equipment cleaning and reconfiguration. Time spent in equipment cleaning and reconfiguration is just as important as time spent manufacturing. Being efficient and effective in this process helps to maximise the available manufacturing time we have on the equipment.
I work daily with immensely talented people who are at the top of their game and who consistently inspire me. No two days are the same in pharmaceutical manufacturing operations. For those with an innate sense of curiosity, manufacturing provides a fantastic opportunity to work as part of an integrated and dynamic team across multiple disciplines. This work environment allows us to keep building our knowledge and we all drive each other on, in wanting to always improve at what we do, and how we deliver for patients.
Iām especially proud of everything that the team at Lilly Kinsale has achieved over the last three years in managing to successfully navigate this site through the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. Ensuring that everyone felt safe coming to work was extremely important. We all worked extremely well together as a cohesive team to ensure all operations kept running smoothly. There was huge commitment and effort on the part of everyone at Lilly Kinsale over the last three yearsĀ ā people working at home and on the siteĀ ā to ensure a reliable supply of medicine to patients was always maintained. I am honoured to have played a very small part in this effort.
Donāt take yourself too seriously. The most enjoyable and most successful projects I have been involved with were the projects where I used my experience and the skills that I enjoyed the most and where we had the most craic. Doing what you love and working hard will ensure a lengthy and fulfilling career.
Lilly was founded in 1876 by Colonel Eli Lilly, a man committed to creating high-quality medicines. His charge to the generations of employees who have followed was this: "Take what you find here and make it better and better."
Even though you should always be open to new ideas and new ways of doing things, you donāt have to reinvent the wheel ā try to learn from others who went before you and listen when they share their experience. Doing your best is the best thing you can do.
Be honest with yourself about why you want a particular role, and donāt take a role because you think that itās a stepping-stone to something else. You should always want to bring the absolute best of yourself to each new role and strive to leave a long-lasting legacy in that role.
You should also be willing to accept that you will not have all the answers in your new role and always remain open to learning from people already working in that area.
Lastly, use every new role as an opportunity to learn something new because openness and willingness to learn will sow the seeds for a very successful tenure in your role.
Building relationships with colleagues is extremely important. There are many challenges to this goalĀ ā conflicting schedules, not enough time, various locations and time zones, different personalities, and diverse ways of working, etc. Making time to build these relationships will help to deliver on our overall purpose as a siteĀ ā to ensure a reliable supply of medicine for the patients who are relying on us to do so.
A key skill in building a strong working relationship is the ability to listen fully and completely to people when they offer their perspectives and share their experience. This helps you to gain an understanding of how you can support your colleagues in a way that will benefit the team as a whole. Also, listening to understand, rather than listening to respond is an objective I try to set for myself in every workplace conversation.
To be a leader, you need to develop skills and tools to improve your resilience. Resilience will help you strive for continuous high performance, manage conflicts, and collaborate more effectively with colleagues.
āDonāt Be an Islandā by Pat Hickey (only joking!) At Lilly Kinsale, we are fortunate that everyone has an opportunity to be assigned a coach/ mentor early in their career. This formal mentor programme aims to support professional development and the building of strong relationships with those who have been on a similar journey.
The company encourages everyone to take the lead with their own learning, whilst helping them to maximise their potential and develop their skills.
Having access to a strong mentor is extremely beneficial for those in the early stages of their careers as it provides them with fantastic line of sight on how to familiarise and align themselves with the working values of the site.
To learn more, visit www.careers.lilly.com
